Huet, Blackhawks beat Devils 5-1

CHICAGO(AP) -- Cristobal Huet and the Chicago Blackhawks showed
they could bounce back convincingly - and do it against one of
the NHL's top teams.

Huet stopped 26 shots, and Jonathan Toews had a goal and an
assist to lead the Blackhawks past the New Jersey Devils, 5-1 on
Thursday night.

Troy Brouwer, Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd and John Madden also scored
for Chicago, which improved to 57 points, remaining two behind
NHL-leading San Jose. The Blackhawks won for the fourth time in
five games and are 8-2-0 in their last 10.

Huet lost a bid for his fourth shutout when Jamie Langenbrunner
scored with 1:33 left in the third after stripping the puck from
defenseman Duncan Keith.

"I thought he was real good early, and in the first eight
minutes of the second period, rock solid," Chicago coach Joel
Quenneville said. "I liked how we played as a team across the
board as well."

Huet rebounded from a shaky outing in his last start, when he
allowed four goals on 10 shots Tuesday in Dallas before being
pulled early in the second period. Chicago went on to lose that
game, 5-4.

"I take pride in trying to regroup after a bad game, try to take
away the negative," Huet said. "The team played well in front of
me."

New Jersey, which also has 57 points, is still in first place in
the East after only its second loss in nine games. And the
established Devils are a team the young Blackhawks wanted to
beat.

"We don't see New Jersey too often, but it's a game we can
definitely get up for," Toews said. "Points like that will keep
us at the top of our division and conference.

"There's definitely something to prove. "Hopefully we sent a
message tonight."

Huet bested New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, who finished with 31
saves in a battle of teams with the NHL's top two defensive
records. Among Huet's best stops were a left pad save on Zach
Parise's breakaway attempt, and Travis Zajac's quick shot from a
faceoff early in the third.

Brodeur had made 32 saves on Wednesday in a 2-0 win over
Pittsburgh to earn his 105th career shutout. On Thursday,
however, the Devils played their third game in four nights and
couldn't keep pace with Chicago for much of the contest.

"I think they made us look tired," Brodeur said. "They dictated
the game. At the end of the day when they got a 2-0 lead it got
tough for us."

Langenbrunner stopped short of saying the Devils were dragging
after a tough, but successful stretch against top Eastern
Conference teams that included two shutout wins against the
Stanley Cup champion Penguins in the last five games.

"We'll never make the excuse we're out of gas," Langenbrunner
said. "Obviously (Wednesday) was a divisional, emotional game we
played well.

"Tonight we didn't play well; that's the bottom line," he added.
"They did a lot of good things that made it worse for us and
made us look more off, but we weren't at our best."

Chicago's Patrick Kane added an assist and has seven goals and
four assists in a six-game, point-scoring streak. Kane leads all
Americans in the NHL in points with 45 on 17 goals and 28
assists, and is expected to be chosen to the U.S. Olympic team
on Friday.

Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson was struck with a puck
while on the bench early in the third period and left the game.

The Blackhawks took control midway through the first, grabbing a
2-0 lead on goals by Brouwer and Eager 1:45 apart on consecutive
shots late in the period.

The Devils had killed 10 straight penalties and 18 of 19 before
Brouwer's power-play goal. Eager made it 2-0 from the slot when
he backhanded Colin Fraser's feed from behind the net between
Brodeur's pads.

Ladd completed a 2-on-1 with Patrick Sharp 2:12 into the second
to extend Chicago's lead to 3-0. Huet made some of his best
saves early and midway through the second, as the Devils began
to generate some offense.

Toews made it 4-0 at 4:41 of the third when he stripped the puck
from Johnny Oduya in the Devils zone, moved in alone and beat
Brodeur with a high shot on the glove side.

NOTES: Toews has two goals and eight assists in his last five
games. ... New Jersey RW David Clarkson sat out the game with a
sore right leg. He had missed 13 games with a broken fibula
before returning last Monday against Atlanta. He then left in
the second period Wednesday. ... Devils D Bryce Salvador missed
his second game with a lower-body injury. ... The Blackhawks
signed D Shawn Lalonde, their second pick in the 2008 draft
(68th overall) to a three-year contract on Thursday.